Corea, República de - Hyundai Plant refuses to negotiate with union – strikers dismissed (2011)

On 22 July 2010 the Supreme Court ruled on a case filed by former in-house subcontracted workers at Ulsan Plant of Hyundai Motors and essentially stated that when an in-house subcontracted employee had been employed for longer than two years under the employers supervisions, s/he shall be treated as being directly employed by the contractor employer (Hyundai Motor). The court thus confirmed Hyundai Motor’s responsibility to employ in-house subcontracted workers directly. Shortly after the ruling, the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), representing the in-house subcontracted workers at Hyundai Motors, asked the company for collective bargaining on direct employment, but management refused, saying that the union is not its bargaining counterpart.

On 4 November the KMWU filed a lawsuit demanding that in-house subcontracted workers with the service period of two years or longer should be moved to a regular job and compensated for the differences in lost wages – they earned around 50-60% of the wages of direct employees. The KMWU also submitted an application for mediation of an industrial dispute over collective bargaining with Hyundai Motors to the National Labor Relations Commission. The union also conducted strike votes among the unionised non-regular workers in several plants, with the majority voting for a strike.

On 15 November subcontracted workers from one plant were unexpectedly dismissed due to the sudden closure of the sub-contractor. Hyundai Motor refused to hire the workers directly and instead asked them to sign a contract with a new contracting firm when and if they withdrew their membership from the KMWU. Forty of them then held a protest, stopping production. They were all immediately arrested by the police after only one hour of protest. After that, 500 workers gathered, and an overall strike was called.

On 9 December the workers agreed to end the strike after facing mounting pressure and a reported KRW 16.2 billion in damage suits. The Central Labour Relation Committee had decided the strike was illegal, and the police issued arrest warrants for 16 union leaders and members. Three unions, including one representing the contract workers, met and agreed to halt the strike on the condition that management would negotiate in good-faith to make the workers full-time Hyundai staff. The strike had been met by beatings and tear gas by local police - scores of contract workers were arrested, and one contract worker attempted to set himself on fire during a rally on 20 November.

More than 1,500 especially subcontracted workers have been unionised since the Supreme Court ruling in July.

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